AT&T Mobile Share Plans Available August 23 — Our new AT&T Mobile Share plans will be available starting Thursday, Aug. 23. — As families prepare to send students back to school, many are looking for a convenient way to connect tablets and laptops or add new smartphones.

Demonoid Busted As A Gift To The United States Government — Last week thousands of Demonoid users feared the worst when their beloved site disappeared from the Internet. Many thought that the site had been busted, but were eventually relieved to hear that it was ‘only’ a massive DDoS attack.

Best Buy Founder Offers $26 A Share To Buy Retailer — Best Buy Co. founder Richard Schulze, who stepped down as chairman this year, offered to take the electronics retailer private at $24 to $26 a share, according to a copy of a letter he sent to the board today.

Samsung: Our smartphones are ‘distinctly different’ — Samsung says it markets a huge number of smartphones models, and that their physical design varies significantly because U.S. carriers ask for elements of “uniqueness.” — SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Samsung executive testified that the company …

Apple Needs Sharp With Foxconn Stake As New IPhone Nears — Taiwan billionaire Terry Gou built a manufacturing empire that assembles iPhones and iPads. His Foxconn Technology Group may be key to ensuring Sharp (6753) Corp.'s survival and a stable supply of components for Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Microsoft commits to WebRTC - just not Google's version — Microsoft officially announced its own proposal for plugin-free real-time communication Monday. “Customizable, Ubiquitous Real Time Communication over the Web,” or short CU-RTC-Web, is Microsoft's contribution to the W3C WebRTC working group …

Baidu Fires 4 Suspected of Being Paid to Delete Content — BEIJING—Baidu Inc. fired four employees suspected of taking payments to delete material from its website, a common form of misconduct on the Chinese Internet. — Although the development is unlikely to have a major effect …

Google records show book scanning was aimed at Amazon — Google has so far spent more than $180 million on book scanning and, at the outset of the project, one of its stated goals was to keep web searchers away from Amazon. — These are among the details set out in a new court filing by the Authors Guild …

Zynga's Rocky Shift to Mobile — To turn around its flagging business, Zynga Inc. is betting big on mobile games and creating a network that connects mobile-game players. — But how to carry out that shift remains up for debate. — At Zynga's San Francisco headquarters last month …

Apple Gorging on Mobile Industry Revenue — Samsung shipped about 50 million smartphones last quarter — about double the number Apple sold and, according to IDC, the largest number of units ever shipped by a handset vendor in a single quarter. But does it matter? — No.